External power supplies for budget digital
products are all the rage now. The Squeezebox Touch alone has several
aftermarket power supplies designed for it. I reviewed the Channel
Islands Audio
VDC-SB for PF a while back, and continue to include it in
my reference system. Unless you have been hiding in a cave, those who
follow the digital market will see that the hottest market in audio
these days are budget DAC units. There has never been more high quality
sub $1000 digital source components to choose from. I don’t think anyone
is complaining about that!

As good as some of these budget DACs and
digital players sound, there of course have to be some compromises. Most
often it is in the form of a wall-wart power supply, which is generally
not the best solution for any audio component. Ergonomics also rule the
day. Most budget DACs tend to be housed in half sized, or even micro
sized casing, eliminating the possibility of an internal, linear power
supply. Of course, a hot new trend right now is battery power for
computer audio related products, but these solutions have their
drawbacks and limitations.

All this leads to an interesting product I
received for review called the KECES DC-116 Regulated Power Supply. It
is a dual output (12V/3A + 9V/3A) design which can power two components
at once. KECES is based in Taiwan and makes an entire suite of
components including amplifiers and DACs. They are also an OEM,
supplying many basic parts that go into high end audio components.

I have two items in my second system that
are prime candidates for use with the DC-116. The first, is the
aforementioned Squeezebox Touch, and the second is the Musical Fidelity
V-DAC II. Setting up the DC-116 was real simple. The unit is really well
made by the way, and the case work is excellent, so no need to hide this
from site, it will fit right in. It has an IEC connector that allows
you to you use the power cord of your choice. I used the DH Labs
Encore power cable. The whole system is plugged into a CablePro
Noisetrapper, which is in turn plugged into the excellent Audience aR2p
power conditioner with a Pangea AC-9 power cord.

The DC-116 come equipped a full set of
umbilical cords and adapters for use with a variety of inputs. I selected the appropriate cables
for the Squeezebox and the V-DAC II. The Squeezebox input specifies 5V,
while the V-DAC specifies 12V. It was as simple as that. The rest of
the system, by the way, is comprised of the McIntosh MA6600 integrated
amp and the Harbeth Compact 7ES3 speakers. Interconnects were Kimber
Hero Ag, and speaker cable was QED Genesis Silver Spiral

Once I powered everything back up and
started listening to some familiar music, it was obvious that the DC-116
was making a world of difference in a variety of areas. First, the old,
well worn cliché of quieter backgrounds applies here. I often experience
this with high quality power conditioning products and power cords. The
DC-116 was even physically quiet, with no hum or mechanical noise
detectable from the chassis. The same can’t be said for all the external
power supplies I have encountered.

Secondly, high frequencies were cleaner,
with more nuance, and less fatiguing on brighter recordings. Not that my
system sounded lacking in this area before, mind you, quite the
contrary, but it was taken to a new level. I was able to make this
determination as the Squeezebox Touch optically connected to the V-DAC
II has been a constant for almost a year now, so I am intimately
familiar with the pairing.

On the other end of the spectrum, bass was
cleaner, punchier, and more articulate. It was not necessarily deeper,
but tidier. I have always felt that when you remove hash from the
treble, and add articulation to the bass, it allows the midrange to
blossom, and that is exactly what happened here. I was actually
marveling at just how darn engaging a $350 DAC and $300 streamer
could sound when relieved of their wall-warts.

I can highly recommend the KECES DC-116 for
audiophiles with DACs, streamers, or other components that run off of
wall-warts, as it will maximize the sonics of these products with zero
downside. As noted above, there has never been more excellent choices in
the budget source component market. These products can be elevated in
performance for a relatively modest investment in the KECES unit. If you
want to go the extra mile, you can even use something like the Shakti
Onlines on the umbilical cords, and some sort of cost effective
resonance control under the DC-116. These tweaks will probably extract
the last five or ten percent from your setup.

To wrap up, I am highly impressed with this
Taiwanese built external power supply. It runs super quiet, powers up to
two components simultaneously, is voltage selectable, and is built to a
very high standard. KECES makes a variety of other interesting
components that I may get a chance to review. The KECES DC-116 is a
classy upgrade for power starved budget systems. Andre Marc